Educator Smoke Sesh Series Vol. 5

Dylan Buhl

Cannabis in a new Light.

There’s nothing in the world like cannabis. This plant’s impact on many of the people who smoke it goes beyond eating an entire bag of Doritos or finding Vince Vaughn actually funny. Cannabis can reroute an entire person’s life and contrary to what years of propaganda would have you believe– often times it can be for the better. Using cannabis wellness to reach a higher quality of life is a hotter topic arguably now more than ever. Whereas actual research on America’s new favorite pastime is still limited due to federal regulations, the progress made has been remarkable in the past nearly half a decade.

The normalization of cannabis means an extraordinary second chance at life for some people. Cannabis wellness can be an enjoyable way to cope with a physical or mental distress, an alternative to many options that the modern American chooses to avoid like prescription drugs, and is somewhat of a long time secret that is overdue to come out of the canna-closet. Weed isn’t the answer for everything, but through the eyes of someone like Dylan Buhl it’s been the game changer necessary for him to wind up on the path he walks today.

Cannabis Wellness isn’t just the Topical your Parents use.

Dylan is a Washington State native who grew up in Carnation. He had earned his bachelor’s degree headed for a career in tech when he switched his path to the cannabis industry. After looking for a job in the 502 industry on indeed he found a posting for The Evergreen Market. “I’ve smoked for a long time,” Dylan disclosed when asked about how he got his start in the cannabis industry. Cannabis played a giant role in overcoming the hurdle with opiates that Dylan faced years ago. “Weed helped me get over my opiate addiction. It helped with the nausea cause you just feel super sick.”

I don’t know about you, but often times when I hear the term ‘health and wellness’ I’m spurred to draw up images of yoga and kale. Dylan’s story is becoming a popular narrative that fits in that category as well, though, particularly as it pertains to cannabis. As reported by drugabuse.com, “researchers found that opiate-related deaths decreased by approximately 33 percent in 13 states in the following six years after medical marijuana was legalized.” At a day and age where opiate addiction has become a national crisis preaching awareness of cannabis wellness and not just recreation is a massive beacon of hope.

The Foundation for a Cannabis Career.

During this period, Dylan invested more attention into cannabis. “I didn’t go to rehab, my mom was super supportive so since I had an environment where I could smoke I could use it to help. I got my medical card and that’s when I started dabbing RSO and growing since I could.”

The experience not only enriched his appreciation for the cannabis plant, but gave him a lot of insight which would land him in an educator position then to the role of assistant store manager. Cannabis wellness is something he gets to champion straight from the front-lines. “I grew some outdoor then started making RSO with that.”

A Dab will do ya.

His fondness for RSO would lend itself to the correct assumption of Dylan preferring dabs to flower, but that barely provides context of the passion in that preference. Skord, Mantis, Oleum are all on the list of Dylan’s favorites. This educator goes through oil by the buckets. (Which made for great fun to watch him cough through a joint of flower while taking pictures for this blog.) Pen’s aren’t the way to go for Dylan, he was pretty clear about his preference for a solid rig. “I have a puffco which is solid if you’re out and about, but I definitely prefer an actual dab off a rig.” A nice quartz banger and some of Dylan’s favorite strain Hell’s Fire (specifically from Skord). “The flower or the dabs from either them or Mantis. Favorite taste, favorite high, definitely favorite strain.”

Turning Passion into Education.

Becoming an educator was a memorable point in Dylan’s career. When asked what the position meant to him, Dylan had an immediate answer. “Being an educator is like mastering a craft. I always want to be the best, so just like knowing things about cannabis and obviously with that knowledge, helping others.” There’s a recognition of responsibility that Dylan has as it pertains to his educator role. “There’s still such a negative stigma around this industry so just being able to change that.”

Outside of work Dylan spends a lot of time gaming. Video games and weed is a tale as old of time. There’s clearly a particularly choice strain when it comes to gaming in Dylan’s opinion. “Strawberry Cough and gaming. I love to game. Anytime I dab strawberry cough I get in my zone. Like, I usually have two grams of it on deck cause I love smoking it and doing that.” Dylan didn’t get 90,000 achievements on Xbox by coincidence. “I’m open to trying any game for a couple days and seeing if there’s something to get into it.”

Breaking the Cannabis Stigma and Stereotypes.

Even though Dylan appreciates some solitude with a routine of getting up early and enjoying the peace, it’s the person to person experience and connection that really drives Dylan’s love for his job. When asked what the most eye opening experience as an educator has been it didn’t take long for him to recall a particular customer and get quite emotional while recalling his story.

“One of my favorite customers is this pastor with terminal cancer. He was so worried anyone would see him at R1 and now I see him at our other stores.”

Watching Dylan talk about this customer was an instant reminder of just how moving a customer/budtender relationship can be. Especially when it involves altering the preconceived notion someone has and improving their quality of life while doing so.

Getting to help a customer with a healthy appreciation of cannabis is a great opportunity to dive into a high energy conversation, but customer’s that come in with a legitimate need are something else. To help better their situation is a special type of interaction for the budtender that steps up to it. “He was so nervous about it and now is using RSO. He did a complete one-eighty, someone so against it and then they give it a shot and just flip. Furthermore, being on the super religious side that can typically be pretty anti-cannabis.” It’s people like this customer that are pivotal to what The Evergreen Market and the educators are trying to accomplish; education and normalization. “He’s got a different outreach than what we can touch.”

Where Cannabis is Heading.

In the next decade or so Dylan see’s The Evergreen Market going national. “We’re going on store number four, talking about going out of state. We are in it so young and nobodies had this opportunity since like tech. Generally speaking, we get solid vacation, solid pay– it’s crazy to see where it’s going to grow from here.”

The scope of cannabis is growing rapidly. The passion that someone like Dylan has stemming from his first hand experience of cannabis improving his life is an important ingredient for continuing the pro-cannabis movement. Dylan, along with all the other educators and staff at Evergreen take being the agents of change for normalization critically. There’s still a long way to go before the damage of preconceived notions encouraged by stigma and propaganda can be dispelled. Without those judgements, more people will be willing to try cannabis to improve their quality of life.